McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton started the day with a 12-point advantage, but ended it with a trip into the gravel which resulted in two of his title contenders – Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso – to draw closer in the world championship as the season reaches its dramatic finale in Brazil with three drivers aiming for the ultimate prize in Formula One.
With Raikkonen winning the Chinese Grand Prix and Alonso finishing in second, Hamilton now leads the standings by four over his McLaren team-mate and seven over the Ferrari driver. The race in Shanghai was a disaster for the British Formula One rookie and perhaps, dented his confidence in taking the title for himself.
Hamilton had earlier dominated the wet opening stages of the 56-lap race, but stayed out too long on extremely worn intermediates tyres. The team left the decision too late for Lewis to change his worn-out Bridgestones and when he did enter the pit lane, ran wide and was breached in the gravel. The engineers and McLaren team boss Ron Dennis was left helpless as the championship leader was forced out of the race.
Until that dramatic moment, Lewis looked on course to clinch the drivers’ title in China… The race began well for the championship leader, as rain before the start meant all the drivers opted for the standard wet-weather tyres from Bridgestone. Lewis made a perfect getaway from pole position to lead into the first corner and was comfortably pulling away from the rest – as much as one second per lap quicker.
By lap 15, the race leader made his first schedule pit stop taking on more fuel but without a change of tyres. This handed the lead to Raikkonen, who made his own stop four laps later. Hamilton was now pushing hard in his McLaren-Mercedes determined to retake his race lead but in do so, exceeded the tyre wear on his intermediates Bridgestones… Further back, Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso were locked in a private battle for third. At this stage of the Chinese Grand Prix, all four drivers were running their original tyres through their pit stops.
The expected rain shower held off and as the track began to dry out, some drivers (in particular Alex Wurz in the Williams) decided to take a gamble and change back onto the dry-weather ‘groove’ tyres. It worked and was now lapping much faster than the race leaders. But with another shower forecast, the top teams were unwilling to risk a premature tyre change…
As Hamilton began to suffer badly with tyre wear, Rakkionen was closing right behind in a matter of seconds. The McLaren was sliding around all over the place, struggling for grip. Lewis tried in vain to defend his race lead from the gripper Ferrari but on lap 28, Kimi slipped by when Lewis ran wide into Turn 8.
The day before, the championship leader spoke about the Ferrari’s characteristic of being kinder to its Bridgestones in long race stints and that proved crucial. Lewis was simply struggling for grip everywhere, hanging on for his second schedule stop on lap 31. When the time came, it was the prelude to disaster. As he came into the pits, Hamilton slid wide on the entry left-hander and ran into the gravel bed at low speed. He could not find enough traction to get out and despite urging the track marshals to assist him by giving the car a push, the championship leader was forced to give up and retire from a Formula One race for the first time…
His race was over and this handed the crucial lifeline for his main championship rivals Raikkonen and Alonso. And after making their pit stops to dry tyres, the pair went on to finish in the top two positions.
Kimi Raikkonen’s victory was his fifth this season and the team’s 200th Grand Prix overall. His team-mate Felipe Massa finished in third place but effectively is now out of the championship running after two poor races in Asia (the Brazilian finished in sixth at Fuji last weekend).
As for Fernando Alonso, his ‘miracle’ came true as his main championship rival was forced out of the race. But it remains a tall order for the Spaniard to win his third drivers’ title in Brazil. He will need to win the Interlagos race with Lewis in third to take the championship, so a repeat of Hamilton’s misfortune will be needed in order for Alonso to take the ultimate win.
Finishing in fourth went to Sebastian Vettel in the Scuderia Toro Rosso. The German made up for his Fuji gaffe though he was lucky to make his single-stop strategy work as far as the timing of the change in weather conditions was concerned but nevertheless, this was a fine performance by Vettel even after he started the race in the low end of the grid after impeding another driver during qualifying… His team-mate, Vitantonio Liuzzi, finished in sixth meant Toro Rosso scored big points in China.
Honda’s Jenson Button drove another impressive race to finish between the Toro Rosso pair with fifth. At one stage, Jenson even set the fastest lap times after switching to the softer-compound-dry weather tyres at the crucial stage.
Behind Liuzzi, BMW-Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld took seventh position after losing out when the track conditions changed. The German was less than a second behind the Italian’s Toro Rosso. Team-mate Robert Kubica actually led the race at one point during the Chinese Grand Prix when Raikkonen and Alonso made their final stops, but was forced into a late retirement with hydraulic failure. Thus the final point went to Red Bull Racing and David Coulthard. The Scot just managed to hold off Heikki Kovalainen’s Renault all the way to the chequered flag.
The next round of the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship will be the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos. This bumpy circuit will set the scene for a three-way fight between the top three drivers in this dramatic season of F1 racing. Hamilton has 107 points, but Alonso is now up to 103 and Raikkonen 100. Not since 1986, when outsider Alain Prost beat favourites Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet, have three drivers fought it out to the last round. It should be a nail-biting race between the young Formula One rookie, the two-time champion and the ‘Iceman’. Who will win? Roll on Brazil!
Chinese Grand Prix result – 56 laps
1. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1h37:58.395s
2. ALONSO McLaren +9.8s
3. MASSA Ferrari +12.8s
4. VETTEL Toro Rosso +53.5s
5. BUTTON Honda +1m08.6s
6. LIUZZI Toro Rosso +1m13.6s
7. HEIDFELD BMW +1m14.2s
8. COULTHARD Red Bull +1m20.7s
9. KOVALAINEN Renault +1m21.1s
10. WEBBER Red Bull +1m24.6s
11. FISICHELLA Renault +1m26.6s
12. WURZ Williams +1 lap
13. TRULLI Toyota +1 lap
14. SATO Super Aguri +1 lap
15. BARRICHELLO Honda +1 lap
16. ROSBERG Williams +2 laps
17. YAMAMOTO Spyker +3 laps
R. KUBICA BMW +23 laps
R. HAMILTON McLaren +26 laps
R. SCHUMACHER Toyota +31 laps
R. SUTIL Spyker +32 laps
R. DAVIDSON Super Aguri +45 laps
Fastest lap: MASSA 1:37.454
